Amy Qualls is a quilter and Drupalist based in Portland, Oregon.

Main menu

Pens, ink, and gifts

9 Jun 2008

A question arose from last night's conversation. I've been surprised to learn that a few of my friends have been fascinated by my Travails of the Fountain Pen™ and would be interested in giving a fountain pen a try.

Are you one of those people? Let me know in the comments. I might -- just might -- have a plan. So far I've given pens to two people, and instance #3 is in progress. Last night's conversation makes me wonder if there are more of you out there than I realized.

That's the best part. Ink, ink, ink.† I'm very definitely a Noodler's Ink fan, just because I think ink should be permanent once it's applied to paper. While Noodler's carries a lot of permanent inks that are fountain-pen safe, a wider variety of colors are available for people who aren't quite so choosy about colorfastness.

Comments

Nothing wrong with that. It's a neat color to write with. The physical components of red pigment mean that it's one of the most difficult colors to get right, much less make permanent. I'll have to see if Noodler's has something permanent in a good, deep crimson.

Only question - I know you're a lefty, Jigs. I can't remember if you're an under-writer or an over-writer? (Meaning, do you write from below the line, like most righties, or with your hand hooked over the line?) If you're an over-writer, this could be a bit more challenging -- I'd need to find an ink that dried quickly.

I'm a moderate underwriter, and have always had crappy luck with fountain pens. Which always struck me as a shame, given my penchant for (though not necessarily competence using) odd tools. I currently lusting after a Leica M8 (which, given the price, I will probably never even afford to rent), and one consideration in my Canon v.Nikon debate is the availability of completely mechanical cameras on the Nikon side. I dunno how competent I'd ever be at manual photography, but I like the concept. It was the same reasoning that prompted me to learn how to use an abacus, although the chances of an abacus actually being available to me should my calculator fail (at some point, somewhere, under some possible circumstance that required calculations?) are, um, slim.

Where was I? Oh, yeah. Until recently, it never occurred to me that handedness could have anything to do with it. Your posts made me realize otherwise. And though I haven't had the motivation yet to play around with the possibilities (must buy a dSLR first), I'll definitely be watching the results of your non-plan (?) with interest.

I have always wanted to learn how to use a fountain pen. I've got a pretty big collection of cool pens and I love those that write smoothly and easily. I also have a preference for those that have bigger, easy to hold shafts (no snickers please!).

For colors... I love them all! I have gel writers currently as my favorites in blue, black, purple, green, and red. (those were the only colors of this pen I could find.) While overall blue is my favorite color, for pen ink I like the unusual. Something that stands out on the paper and catches the eye.

I am decidedly *not* expecting, nor asking, for you to give me a pen. But if you offer lessons in how to use them... that I might just take you up on. ;-)